In which, for the umpteenth time, we bemoan the loss of local events and hope the MHL can be rebuilt

I’m running a tournament with around 600 entrants this Saturday, mostly novices and JV. Could it be that there is a slight hunger abroad for rounds for the young ’uns? I mean, if you’re really on the hunt for TOC bids (in which case you should probably be summarily executed, but that’s just my opinion, and there are at least a dozen coaches and a lot of teenagers across the continent who disagree with me), you should start by getting a lot of rounds in your early years. Unfortunately, venues for those rounds are few and far between, at least around here.

The Paginator is talking about reviving the MHL. It can’t be repeated enough: the MHL disappeared not because of lack of people to run it, but because nobody was coming. Yes, Cruz and I were its guiding spirit, but there was already no one to guide when he met his particular fate and when I retired from coaching. MHLs were regularly cancelled for lack of interest, or barely viable if they did occur. A couple of local schools were stalwart, but most were unconcerned. How could a school that regularly appears at invitationals blow off the local educational league? Beats me, but that’s the way it was. New York City responded by building its own active league around the UDL, which is a good thing. And Jersey has its local contests. But that’s not enough. Yes, it is probably expensive to hire a bus for a one-day tournament, but I truly believe that it’s worth it, to mix it up away from familiar ground. (If nothing else, an activity that offers a lot of identity politics needs to be in an arena where the educational value of those politics can make a difference.)

Anyhow, I hope Marty can pull it off. He’s got interest from just about everybody he’s mentioned it to, but it will require a lot of pushing on his part. Most of the people who have expressed gunghoedness to the idea are the ones who didn’t show up back those couple of years ago. Talk, in other words, is cheap. So is offering your building on an open Saturday. What isn’t cheap? Turning up week after week with the greatest number of kids possible, not to get a TOC bid (FEH!) but to provide the greatest number possible the benefits of forensics beyond the competition. (And for that matter, as the TOC develops Silver Bids and Bronze Bids and MS Bids and Pre-K Bids and the like, how long will it survive—if it still even does—as the top branded debate tournament?)

Oh, well. I’ve got a tournament to run. I do hope there is no blizzard Friday night, as I have to drive down in the morning with a trunkful of mugs and medals because Catholic Charlie has to head up to Massachusetts with his team, leaving the rest of us alone and abaondoned and lugging his mugs and medals, the tattie howker!

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